@David YoungTo turn your paid-off home into a successful investment property, start by formalizing a lease agreement, assessing necessary renovations to maximize rental appeal, and calculating your cash flow after expenses.

Most of your expenses on the Dallas property are property taxes and insurance? 

.- So, you may want to consider locking in an interest rate via a 2nd mortgage.Do you have reserves for unexpected expenses?

Your plan to house hack a multifamily property in Indianapolis is a great strategy to start building equity and learning the ropes with manageable risk.

It's super expensive and within the next few years you'll very likely have an opportunity to refi in to a rate in the 5% range.

I'm thinking long term rentals will be a good retirement plan.

Still, I think you'd find it difficult to find one that would be a good long-term investment unless you had another ~20-30 years to go, it's at least cash neutral, and you don't plan to hold it too long (to avoid too much investment loss and before you get to the point where it's unsellable because of too few years left); that's another way of saying that maybe it suits your cash needs in the near-term or is at least less of a pill to swallow than other options until you find something that's more of a sensible long-term play

I personally would go that route as it would probably be less expensive. 

A nice but expensive duplex on a beach or in an expensive area might be ideal, if you can swing the other half out of personal funds. 

You can withdraw from your 401k starting in the year you turn 55 if you qualify.I am following a plan similar to yours.